Consumers clueless about exchanges

By BenefitsPro

By Allison Bell

Few Web users seem to know where they'll go to get information about the exchanges.

Kev Coleman, an analyst at HealthPocket.com, a health insurance plan information site, has published data on consumers' thoughts about the exchange system in a summary of results from an online survey of 1,150 consumers.

Coleman collected the survey data by posting a form on about 100 news and information websites.

Only 3 percent said they would use the new crop of navigators -- but only 31 percent said they thought they would turn to friends, relatives, the Internet, doctors or pharmacists.

About 67 percent said they would go nowhere for PPACA exchange information or aren't sure where they'll go.

In other PPACA exchange news:

- Cover Oregon, the PPACA exchange for Oregon, says it will start selling coverage through agents and "community partners" Oct. 1 but won't have its website up until later in October. But the exchange does plan to start enrollment for both individual and Small Business Health Options Program small-group plans that month.

- If you run a group that's to make PPACA exchange "certified application counselors" available in Nevada, you can already use a form to apply for reimbursement for certification-related expenses from Nevada Health Link, that state's PPACA exchange.